Articles
Low-carbon travel from the UK to the ski slopes
Taking the train from London to go skiing in Sestriere/I sounds like a nightmare scenario. But, as a new specialist website proves, it's not. For a number of weeks now, avid skiers can go to www.snowcarbon.co.uk/ (en) to find the most convenient train journeys to take them from London/UK to the Alps or the Pyrenees to go skiing. Read More…
Turin/I: Olympic sports facilities left to waste away
Since the close of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin many of the sports facilities and installations have been left abandoned. The five ski jumps in Pragelato, for example, for which the building costs exceeded 34 million Euros, are now closed off and unused. Read More…
Warmest decade for at least 130 years
The last ten years will go on record as by far the warmest in the alpine region since systematic records began. In Germany even the "cool" year 2004 with an average temperature of 9.0 degrees centigrade was well above the climatological mean for Germany, at 8.2 degrees. Read More…
Hiking right across the Alps
The recently published book Via Alpina - 2500 kilometres from one coast to another (Via Alpina - 2'500 kilomètres d'une mer à l'autre) recounts the adventure of crossing the entire Alpine range. In 2007 Vincent Tornay followed the Via Alpina Red Trail for a total of 119 days in search of the people and landscapes that make up the Alps of today. He covered 2500 km and 124,000 metres of difference in altitude as he hiked through the eight Alpine states, from the Adriatic coastline to Monaco. Read More…
New builds to meet tough climate requirements by 2020
From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings. Read More…
Tourism in mountain areas put to the test
The new December 2009 issue of Revue de géographie alpine / Journal of alpine research looks at mountain tourism and sustainability. Six articles examine the sustainability of current practices in tourism and take a closer look at the experience gained with sustainable tourism. Read More…
Club Arc Alpin makes a stand on climate change, the expansion of fixed rope routes, and motorised offroad traffic
On September 12 the Club Arc Alpin (CAA) held its members' meeting in Innsbruck at which it formulated political demands on climate change and adopted a number of policy documents on fixed rope routes and motorised offroad traffic. On the subject of climate change the CAA called for a reduction in CO2 as well as a move away from a dependency on fossil sources of energy. It specifically addressed the issue of traffic, to which it suggested a number of measures. Read More…
New issue of the Eco.mont magazine
The latest issue of eco.mont - Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research is now available. It features scientific articles from European mountain regions and the Himalayas, with articles on amphibians, visitor monitoring, information management, resource utilisation, and the perception of biodiversity changes. Read More…
Alpine Convention's climate portal now online
The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention has gone online with its climate portal, in time for International Mountain Day and the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The climate portal collates and disseminates information on events, activities and developments relating to climate change in the Alps. Climate-related information from throughout the Alpine region can be submitted to the portal for publication. Read More…
The construction industry as a key to the problem of climate change
The information provided through cc.alps is now available in the form of focussed background reports called Compacts, which can be downloaded from the CIPRA website at www.cipra.org/de/cc.alps/ergebnisse/compacts . The first three Compacts - on Energy, Nature Protection, and Construction and Refurbishment - address their subjects with reference to climate change in the Alpine context. The authors list and analyse activities relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, assessing them for sustainability, explaining the conflicts of interest involved, and presenting examples of good practice. Read More…
New content for www.cipra.org/cc.alps
The cc.alps website now offers additional in-depth content in the form of Compacts. Regular updates and additions are planned. For each topic, CIPRA has drawn up a list of demands, which can be downloaded separately from its website at www.cipra.org/de/cc.alps/ergebnisse (de/fr/it/sl). Read More…
cc.alps to continue in 2010
The cc.alps project continues in 2010 with a focus on more in-depth research and dissemination of the knowledge generated, above all by promoting specific projects at the municipal level, and also by organising and participating in international events. Read More…
cc.alps: CIPRA Demands on Spatial Planning
The Alps are different. The Alpine range is characterized by special features that need to be taken into account in spatial development and climate protection. Read More…
Extremes of climate affect spread of tree species
In a recently published study scientists at the WSL (the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape) working with an international research team demonstrated for the first time that the disappearance of tree species in certain regions is due not just to the higher mean temperature but also to extremes of climate-related events. Read More…
New builds to meet tough climate requirements by 2020
From 2020 new builds in the EU will have to comply with tough energy balance requirements. Last week representatives of the European Parliament and EU states agreed that new builds should in future have virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. Any remaining energy requirements should also be met essentially from renewable sources. These stipulations are to come into force two years earlier for public buildings. Read More…
New alpMedia dossiers now online
The alpmedia dossiers on energy and nature conservation are now available in German and English on the CIPRA web. Besides a report the dossiers consist of more detailed information such as news items, publications, events and examples of best practice. Read More…
AlpHouse combines traditional trades & crafts and energy efficiency
The new three-year Alpine Space Project entitled AlpHouse was launched in early October. AlpHouse strives to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs, especially in the area of trades & crafts, by providing them with the knowledge, skills and tools for top-quality renovations of old buildings in the Alpine region. Read More…
cc.alps: CIPRA demands on transport
Transport, in particular by car and truck, is one of the main causes of climate change. In the Alpine countries transport accounts for more than 25 percent of the release of greenhouse gases and is of special importance in the increase of these gases since 1990. A wrong development, running counter to the political objective to reduce exhaust emissions. In the Alps, the percentage of journeys made by car is higher than European average. Read More…
